Researchers in Norwich have helped towards finding a cure for cancer
Norwich scientists work on rat that is immune to cancer and might offer medical miracle
David Bale Thursday, July 7, 2011 4:27 PM
The Naked Mole Rat is resistant to cancer.
Researchers in Norwich have helped towards finding a cure for cancer, after taking a step towards understanding why an African rat lives for 30 years and is resistant to the killer disease.
Staff at the Genome Analysis Centre at Norwich Research Park have been working with colleagues from the University of Liverpool on finding cures for diseases of old age, particularly cancer.
And their work has focused on the naked mole-rat which is native to the deserts of East Africa, lives underground, is impervious to pain and can survive despite the depleted oxygen levels in its burrows.
The rodent lives for 30 years – seven times longer than a normal rat – despite being only four inches long, and appears not to be afflicted with the world’s number one killer disease.
Recent studies have suggested that its cells possess anti-tumour capabilities that are not present in other rodents or in humans.
Dr Mario Caccamo, Head of Bioinformatics at the TGAC, said, “These rats are very ugly and have outsize teeth but they can live up to 30 years.
“One of the reasons for their longevity is that they are very resistant to cancer. We don’t know exactly why at present, but we have some ideas.
“They live underground and need a very low level of oxygen, and they also don’t eat much, so it could be linked to that. They might not have much fun, but they seem to live a long time.”
DNA from the rats has been taken at the University of Liverpool and then sent to the TGAC for research, Dr Caccamo said.
Researchers will now use this information to study the mechanisms thought to protect against the causes of ageing, such as DNA repair and genes associated with these processes.
Dr Joao Pedro Magalhaes, who led a team at the University of Liverpool unravelling the animal’s genetic blueprint, hopes one day it will provide therapies to treat conditions in humans.
He said: “The naked mole-rat has fascinated scientists for many years, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that we discovered that it could live for such a long period of time.
“It is not much bigger than a mouse, which normally lives up to four years, and yet this particular underground rodent lives for three decades in good health. It is an interesting example of how much we still have to learn about the mechanisms of ageing.
“We aim to use the naked mole-rat genome to understand the level of resistance it has to disease, particularly cancer, as this might give us more clues as to why some animals and humans are more prone to disease than others. “With this work, we want to establish the naked mole-rat as the first model of resistance to chronic diseases of ageing.”
The TGAC is a national BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council genomics and bioinformatics centre which addresses problems in agriculture, sustainable energy, food and nutrition.
